The present invention relates generally to operations performed and equipment utilized in conjunction with a subterranean well and, in an embodiment described herein, more particularly provides for passive completion optimization with fluid loss control.
It is well known to use packers with swellable seal elements in completion strings for subterranean wells. Such swellable seal elements typically swell to sealingly engage a wellbore wall in response to contact with a fluid in a well.
Unfortunately, however, it may take from approximately one to thirty days for a conventional swellable seal material to swell to a sufficient extent that an effective seal is achieved against the wall of the wellbore. In the meantime, valuable and/or potentially deleterious completion fluids may be lost to the formation surrounding the wellbore, thereby reducing the economic benefit derived from the completion and/or reducing the potential recovery of hydrocarbon fluids from the formation.
Therefore, it may be seen that improvements are needed in the art of completing subterranean wells.